sophiasmith - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

USWNT win the most CONCACAF game everWe realize the enormity of saying “the most CONCACAF game ever,” as this particular region of the soccer world is literally where people throw ducks at balloons and nothing is the way it seems. Just about anything can happen when the North and Central American Federation is in charge, and boy did it...

Is trouble brewing for the USWNT?It’s been mostly quiet on the Western front for the USWNT since last summer’s World Cup full-body dry heave. A couple of friendlies to send off legends, a couple more to close out the year with no stakes, and an easy start to the Women’s Gold Cup last week with resounding wins over the Dominican Rep...

Julie Ertz, the USWNT’s most irreplaceable player, retiresI’m a sucker for a midfielder. Especially one like Julie Ertz. It’s not that I played there or anything. It’s just something about a player who sees all the angles on both sides of the ball before being anywhere near it that gets me, I think. Xabi Alonso is my favorite Liverpool player of all time. ...

Vlatko Andonovski was bad at a very tough job

If one didn’t want to kick dirt on Vlatko Andonovski as he recedes from the USWNT manager job, and kicking dirt is kind of what we do around here, it would be wise to point out the size of the task he was faced with. He took over a team that had won two World Cups on the spin, so there was really no...

The USWNT is extraordinary — don't pretend otherwise

Neither the US Women’s National soccer team’s past glory in Megan Rapinoe, nor its future in young phenom Sophia Smith, could defeat Sweden in the present. Both players skipped penalty kicks high over the goal after a 0-0 tie in regulation, clear misses of the target altogether, in a 1-0 loss that w...

The USWNT exits the World Cup on the cruelest margin

The symbolism of the final moment can’t be shoved off. The USWNT’s Alyssa Naeher can’t do much more to keep the final penalty out. But sometimes…the bear eats you....

Has the rest of the world finally caught up to the U.S. Women's soccer team?

For those used to the United States women’s national team dominating the globe, this edition of the Women’s World Cup has come as a shock. Those who don’t tune in every four years expected turbulence, but the level of bumps and lumps the Americans have taken in Australia and New Zealand has already ...

Former USWNT star Carli Lloyd is never hesitant to remind everyone she was the star

The bane of sports analysis, especially when it comes to soccer in a nation that has become too mature in its fandom of the sport to accept this kind of drivel, is to default to claiming something unquantifiable as the reason a team won and a team lost. “Wanted it more” is a phrase you hear all too ...